NFL - American Football

[Ozexpatriate]

A very sad scene on Monday night's game between Buffalo and Cincinnati.  Buffalo Safety Damar Hamlin collapsed immediately following a tackle late in the first quarter and, after CPR was administered on the field, was taken to hospital (half an hour after his collapse) where he is reportedly in critical condition.

 

The game was postponed indefinitely.

[roundhouse]

All happened whilst watching in the Brewhouse in Santa Barbara. they open Mondays especially for the Monday game.

[Invicta Informant]

Donations to the toy drive Damar Hamlin launched in 2020 has raised over $5.6 million since his horrific collapse on the field. Like with what happened to Christian Eriksen and Fabrice Muamba, I sincerely hope Hamlin makes a full recovery.

[Ozexpatriate]

With the postponed week 17 Bills v. Bengals game now cancelled, the NFL has come up with a potential 'neutral site' compromise for the AFC Championship game.

 

CNN: NFL owners approve unique neutral site playoff arrangement following Bills-Bengals cancellation

[ejstubbs]

That's a much clearer explanation than the one I [tried to] read the other day!

[Invicta Informant]

Looking at the NFL Playoffs, the home field team is determined by seeding number, as the NFL does not use a fixed bracket system. The lowest ranked seed after the Wild Card playoff round will play the No. 1 seeds (Kansas or Philadelphia) in the Divisional playoff round.

AFC:

(5) Los Angeles Chargers at (4) Jacksonville Jaguars

(7) Miami Dolphins at (2) Buffalo Bills

(6) Baltimore Ravens at (3) Cincinnati Bengals

NFC:

(5) Dallas Cowboys at (4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers

(7) Seattle Seahawks at (2) San Francisco 49ers

(6) New York Giants at (3) Minnesota Vikings

The Divisional group winners always play at home, which is why the NFC South winners Tampa Bay with a losing regular season record of 8-9 are hosting Dallas who have regular season record of 12-5.

[Invicta Informant]

Super Bowl LVII will be between the two No. 1 seeds, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, at the State Farm Stadium (home of the Arizona Cardinals) in Glendale, Arizona.

 

Kick-off is scheduled for 4:30pm Mountain Time on Sunday 12th February.

 

Rihanna is due to perform at the Halftime Show.

[4630]

Tom Brady retires 'for good' after 23 seasons in the NFL.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/american-football/64487463

Edited February 1, 2023 by 4630

[Ian J.]

He did of course 'retire' last year, so we'll only know for sure in the fullness of time.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, Ian J. said:

He did of course 'retire' last year, so we'll only know for sure in the fullness of time.

Agreed. There were rumours about the 49ers being interested in him, but he has* a very lucrative commentating job with Fox that he accepted (with an indefinite start time). He's been sitting on this offer for at least 12 months.

 

* As noted in the article

 

Edited February 1, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[Ian J.]

My friend who supports the Raiders and hates Brady will be glad if he has truly retired, as there was a lot of rumour going round of a reunion with Josh McDaniels at LV.

[Invicta Informant]

Who else thought the end of the Super Bowl was anti-climactic?

 

It feels a shame that such tight contest was spoilt by poor officiating. And the NFL are not the only major sports league to suffer from this. There have been many similar complaints about the officials in the NBA, MLB, the English Premier League, etc. hovering around for some time now.

 

There is always the XFL and the USFL returning soon (this weekend and mid-April respectively) for those who can't wait for the NFL to return in early September.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, Invicta Informant said:

It feels a shame that such tight contest was spoilt by poor officiating.

I'm not convinced it was.

 

Fox is a poor cousin compared with NBC and CBS in NFL broadcasting. Had either NBC or CBS covered the game we would have seen multiple better angles and a freeze frame image enlargement of what I believe was the jersey pull that caused the call - earlier in the play than the replay that Fox showed. Mike Pereira (Fox's "officiating" commentator) briefly mentioned what I saw but was cut off.  

 

With Buck/Aikman gone to ESPN, this was Burkhardt/Olsen's first Super Bowl as commentators. Presumably when Fox next has a Super Bowl (2026?) Brady will be in the analyst seat.

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[Invicta Informant]

Week 1 of the 2023 NFL Season has concluded. The results are as follows:

Detroit Lions 21-20 Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Rams 30-13 Seattle Seahawks

Philadelphia Eagles 25-20 New England Patriots

Miami Dolphins 36-34 Los Angeles Chargers

Las Vegas Raiders 17-16 Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers 38-20 Chicago Bears

Arizona Cardinals 16-20 Washington Commanders

Carolina Panthers 10-24 Atlanta Falcons

Tennessee Titans 15-16 New Orleans Saints

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20-17 Minnesota Vikings

Jacksonville Jaguars 31-21 Indianapolis Colts

Cincinnati Bengals 3-24 Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans 9-25 Baltimore Ravens

San Francisco 49ers 30-7 Pittsburgh Steelers

Dallas Cowboys 40-0 New York Giants

Buffalo Bills 16-22 New York Jets

[Bill Radford]

Been watching MNF this morning (recorded C5) and I was wondering why American Football still uses an invisible ball? Premier and Football Leagues are using a mainly white ball at the moment but will change to a yellow ball as winter approaches. Even that major TV sport of Squash changed it balls so that they would be visible.

 

Must say that JBell & Osi are watchable this year with a decent co-host again.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, Bill Radford said:

I was wondering why American Football still uses an invisible ball?

Invisible?

 

College football uses white (partial) stripes on the ends, which were added for better visibility in night games. The CFL uses complete stripes.

 

There's a lot of "history" with the NFL ball. White balls have been used in the past.

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, Invicta Informant said:

Week 1 of the 2023 NFL Season has concluded. The results are as follows:

Based on what I saw (and I watched the US Open final):

• Aaron Rogers is out for the season.
• The Giants are beyond awful.
• The Bills have lost their mojo.
• The twelves in Seattle got to see the Jets-Geno that everyone expected last year.

One swallow does not a summer make, but it might feel like a long season for all the NY teams. For Bears fans, there's always next year.

[4630]

Yes, now confirmed Jets QB Aaron Rodgers suffered torn Achilles vs. Bills, will miss remainder of 2023 NFL season.

 

I’m not a Jets or Aaron Rogers follower particularly, my allegiances tend towards the West Coast, but I have to say that’s a really unlucky break for them both. 

[Jamiel]

So many US sports journalists talking about every quarterback who has retired in the last three years as a replacement for Aaron Rodgers. They are so blinded by the cult of celebrity and seem to think that the only QB who can lead a team to a Superbowl is someone who won one before.

 

Joe Flacco would be a great backup, he’s been with the Jets recently as well, but he isn’t going to learn the offense in the next week, and the others out there retired because they couldn’t play anymore. Brady would still have something, but why would he want to be a replacement for Rodgers? Too much ego between those too.

 

Thankfully The Jets coach Robert Sala is talking about his QB Zack Wilson’s performance and how they won the game, and so are a few sensible journalists.

 

Personally, I am sick of Aaron Rodgers who seemed to learn from Brett Favre how to be as much of a soap opera as he did about play on the field. As a Broncos supporter, I am no fan of the Jets offensive coordinator Nathanial Hackett either, but I do like Sala, and hope he pulls through this. The rest of the team are good, the defence amazing.

 

It was an interesting first week, The Chiefs, Bills, Ravens, Bengals and Chargers all lost. Maimi and Dallas looked amazing, as did The Lions, but it is week one, overreaction time for journalists and fans, I’m sure a lot of things will even out in the coming weeks.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, Jamiel said:

So many US sports journalists talking about every quarterback who has retired in the last three years as a replacement for Aaron Rodgers. They are so blinded by the cult of celebrity and seem to think that the only QB who can lead a team to a Superbowl is someone who won one before.

I don't listen to the noise, but it's not blindness, it is data.

 

The NFL is more and more dependent on elite quarterbacks. In the last 10 Super Bowls, only four were not repeat wins for a QB and one of those was Patrick Mahomes' first win. (The others were Russ Wilson, Matt Stafford and Nick Foles.)  

 

The other six wins were repeat wins - Peyton Manning, Brady, and Mahomes. Recent data would suggest a Super Bowl-winning QB gives a team a 60% chance.

 

With the exception of Foles (who was a late season backup, and that delightful Eagles win, over Brady and the Pats, was a bit miraculous) all of them were high-performing (if not elite) QBs.

 

Besides Flacco (XLVII) you have to go back 20 years to XXXVII to Brad Johnson and the Bucs to see a non-elite QB win a Super Bowl.

[Invicta Informant]

19 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Invisible?

 

College football uses white (partial) stripes on the ends, which were added for better visibility in night games. The CFL uses complete stripes.

 

There's a lot of "history" with the NFL ball. White balls have been used in the past.

 

The original and infamous incarnation of the XFL in 2001 had black balls with a red 'X' going across the sides. I believe the ill-fated World Football League of the mid-1970s used balls that were not all brown.

[Jamiel]

9 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I don't listen to the noise, but it's not blindness, it is data.

 

The NFL is more and more dependent on elite quarterbacks. In the last 10 Super Bowls, only four were not repeat wins for a QB and one of those was Patrick Mahomes' first win. (The others were Russ Wilson, Matt Stafford and Nick Foles.)  

 

The other six wins were repeat wins - Peyton Manning, Brady, and Mahomes. Recent data would suggest a Super Bowl-winning QB gives a team a 60% chance.

 

With the exception of Foles (who was a late season backup, and that delightful Eagles win, over Brady and the Pats, was a bit miraculous) all of them were high-performing (if not elite) QBs.

 

Besides Flacco (XLVII) you have to go back 20 years to XXXVII to Brad Johnson and the Bucs to see a non-elite QB win a Super Bowl.

I think with the defence The Jets have, they are more similar to The Ravens and Steelers who both won with less than elite quarterbacks, Flacco and Rothlisberger was still developing at the time.

 

I think they would have been a lot like the 2015 Broncos, with an experienced, but past their best quarterback and a great team around them. When Manning retired though it might be cautionary tale for The Jets.

 

Tom Brady could be considered the best quarterback ever, but his first Superbowl win was coming off the bench as a sixth round pick to replace Drew Bledsoe. Similarly to some extent for Kurt Warner with the Rams for Trent Green in 1999. Neither were known quarterbacks before their first, and quite amazing seasons.

 

Last year we had an ‘almost’ from the most obscure quarterbacks you could name in Brock Purdey, had he not been injured in the NFC title game.

 

Zack Wilson has been tried, and is definitely not a Brady or Warner, but might aspire to a be Flacco, which I feel is The Jets best option. Go defence first and don’t lose the game with the quarterback option right now, and maybe get Flacco back as backup.

 

I think you are right about the pedigree of the likely winner of this year’s Superbowl, given the dependency on quarterbacks and the number of outstanding ones currently in the game, particularly in the AFC, two in the AFC East alone.

[Bill Radford]

3 hours ago, Invicta Informant said:

The original and infamous incarnation of the XFL in 2001 had black balls with a red 'X' going across the sides. I believe the ill-fated World Football League of the mid-1970s used balls that were not all brown.

I seem to recall the white rings on the balls - maybe from Charlie Brown?

 

It just seems to me that for sport that has total TV coverage the ball should be more visible - watch any place kick or punt and try to see the path of the ball.

[Ian J.]

My understanding about the white stripes on the balls is for visibility when at school/college and training to be able to see spin. Once into the professional side of football they're not considered needed...?

[Ozexpatriate]

12 hours ago, Ian J. said:

My understanding about the white stripes on the balls is for visibility when at school/college and training to be able to see spin. 

Yes.

 

12 hours ago, Ian J. said:

 Once into the professional side of football they're not considered needed...?

More about "traditions" I suspect.

 

I don't know if you can find Episode 8 of "Peyton's Places" (Birth of the Ball) where Peyton Manning visits the Wilson Factory. In the episode (if I'm not mistaking it) is a history of the NFL ball - with all the variations from the predecessor leagues. 

Quote

Episode 8 – The Birth of the Ball (September 1): Over 100 seasons, the football has evolved from the original watermelon ball to the model used today. Peyton meets up with former teammate Brandon Stokely to trace the history of the football, and later ventures inside the Wilson football factory in Ada, Ohio, to make the perfect pigskin.

There's a factory clip here.

 

I'm pretty sure it covered the 'white ball' (which was a thing and as a game ball, not just an autograph ball). The pre-NFL, NFL and AFL used different balls, before settling on "The Duke" for the NFL. Wilson description:

Quote

Throughout American sports history, no other brand has been partnered with a league longer than Wilson has been with the NFL. Not only has every point scored in the NFL been with a Wilson Football, but every Wilson NFL game ball has been handcrafted in Ada, OH by skilled craftsmen and women for decades. "The Duke" NFL football was named in honor of the game's pioneering legend and NY Giants owner, Wellington Mara. Back when Mara was a young boy taking in the game from the sidelines, the Giants players dubbed him "The Duke" and years later, the NFL game ball took on this nickname too. Bring home "The Duke" today, which is as close as a fan can get to the authentic, on-field icon that's been passed, caught and carried by the game's greatest since the NFL started in 1941

The Wikipedia page is weak.

 

There's a random fan page on the Spalding ball used in the AFL here.

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by Ozexpatriate